Dr. Songtao Shi from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial research has conduct a study which discovered that baby teeth contain 1-2 dozen valuable stem cell, usable for treating different diseases further in life.

Experts have been studying the effects of stem cells on heart, brain, pancreas and other organs in repairing possible damage from disease. The team of Dr. Shi discovered that adult teeth contain 1 type of stem cell, while baby teeth (from children aged 7 and 8) contain completely different stem cells.

Baby teeth can save life, if you couldn’t afford to bank your baby’s cord blood for stem cells or you haven’t thought about this on time !!!

How does it work?

Stem cells are located in the dental pulp within the tooth, which then regenerates into neurons, bone and cartilage (or even cardiac cells). This treatment can be effective for type I diabetes, because stem cells from teeth can be turned into pancreatic cells which produce insulin.

In order to preserve the stem cells which can be useful, they have to be alive. Within 48 hours of being frozen, the dental pulp needs to have proper blood supply- less than this and the cell dies.

There are services which can store baby teeth, which recommend removal of the baby teeth by dental professionals; the tooth should not be dangling, because this way it`s very possible it does not contain enough blood supply. Some companies offer storage container and at-home collection process, others offer packaging and shipping supplies so that the parents can save their baby teeth themselves.

In the video below, you can see a dentist who`s encouraging parents to preserve their baby`s teeth, because they can be life-saving.